A Testimony of A 17 Year Old

My name is Preston Mott and I am seventeen years old and live in Woodstock Georgia. Before I begin to tell my testimony I just want to share a powerful prayer for anyone that reads this. Dear gracious and loving Heavenly Father, I come to you in prayer and ask that whoever is reading this will be flooded with your Holy Spirit. I pray that they will be given reassurance that you do exist God and that they will never doubt their faith in you. Please forgive them of their sins and protect them wherever they go. In your holy name I pray, Amen.

At the early age of four years old I was diagnosed with a very rare disease called “primary sclerosing cholangitis.” But trying to discover the disease wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. You see, when I was in preschool I started getting frequent nosebleeds and my stomach began to enlarge as well as my spleen. At the time my mom didn’t pay much attention to it and just thought she was feeding me too many French fries and burgers. She decided to take me into the hospital for the nosebleeds but was hit with an unexpected answer. The doctor told her that he wasn’t sure what was wrong with me but thought it could somehow relate to cancer. Over the next weeks she was given different answers from other doctors claiming I had leukemia. Finally she came across the right doctor a who discovered my disease and said I needed to be rushed to the hospital emergency room. I didn’t realize it at the time but my life was about to change forever.

April 1st of 2000 is the year I got my liver transplant. it may have been on April fools day but I can assure you this was no joke. Even to this day I can remember the doctor giving me permission to pull out my staples all by myself. during the two week surgery recover many nurses took a liking to me. They played dolls with me and let me play the Nintendo 64 for as long as I wanted. There is so much I can say about this part of my life but I don’t remember a lot of it and don’t feel like spending hours on the subject.

In the later years to come who faced many trials due to my liver transplant. Everyday for the rest of my life I have to take medications so my body doesn’t attack my liver since it recognizes that I wasn’t born with that liver. Therefore, I have a very weak immune system and get sick more then the average kid. There was even one point where I was only in fifth grade for three months cause everyone kept getting chickenpox at my school and I couldn’t Â go to school or else I would get it. one time I picked up a disease called parvo human b-19 virus and had to get eight blood transfusions. Other times I have considered myself fortunate to only be sick in the hospital with a bad cold or the flu. One time I was in the hospital with a terrible illness that the doctors couldent figure out. My mom was very worried and got an unexpected phone call from my p.e. teacher at Johnston elementary school. She asked my mom to lay the phone on my chest so she could say a prAyer there phone. The very next day they did blood tests on me and one of my doctors spoke to my mom and said ” we can’t explain it but Preston is completely normal and all of his bloodwork and liver numbers have came down. He can actually go home now” this was definitely a god thing.

From my later years in Highschool I can sadly say that I wasn’t exactly doing my best to live out a Christian life. I was highly caught up in my image and reputation. I was going to parties all over the county, smoking tobacco, smoking weed, hooking up with girls, and cussing left and right. Didn’t care much about anyone other than myself. After going into a routine clinic visit my doctors told me that my liver numbers were reaching “scary” high numbers. They told me that the liver biopsies and medications weren’t cutting it anymore. My liver has begun to scar and they felt that I was approaching the road to having to get another liver transplant in the next few years. I can’t tell you why because I do not know why but for some reason this didn’t scare me and I continued to live my horrible life style. You see, when you are so filled with pride you begin to think you are invincible. then it takes something big to knock you down and I was about to get it.

One of the first acts the doctors took to help keeping my liver as long as possible was placing a stint in my bile duct connecting to my liver. The stint was suppose too open up the duct for everything to flow through. We waited weeks after but my liver numbers continued to rise. Â So they took the next step and put two stints in and but still my numbers would not come down. I forgot to mention that after an endoscopy procedure you have a one out of one hundred chance of getting pancreatitis and my luck just happens to be so good I got it both times after this procedure. I can not begin to explain the pain that comes from it. If I had to sum it up I would say it feels like being hit with a hammer all around your stomach and then someone driving nails in it while your whole front side is about to pop. Months later the doctors confronted us and told us the final and final step was something called a reux en y procedure. If that failed then I was going to have be put on the list for another liver transplant.

If you are still reading this I promise you that I am almost done.

Over the last couple of months I have been under surgery again where they performed the reux en y procedure. after the surgery my stomach swelled up and had a bad infection. They had to cut me open on the spot on a clinic wheel around table. Ever since they have been putting gnaws in the holes (my wounds) to drain out and soak up the infection. They put me on a wound vac machine to speed up the process. And at this very moment typing this, I am currently still on the wound vac and one of my wound holes has completely closed up! after the recent surgery my doctors told my mom that they didn’t believe it was going to do much and that I would need a new liver soon. Well as of right now ALL of my bloodwork and liver numbers have came down. The doctors are very surprised and are in shock of how good a condition I am in.

Now comes the reason.

The purpose for staying up till 3:30 in the morning typing this is because I want that whoever is out there reading this to know that through these last two months I have endured trial after trial after trial (all my life actually) but during these two months its like I have been re-awoken in the Holy Spirit. I’m no longer living how I was living, I spend every night reading the bible and spending time with god. And my faith has grown so much from this experience. I have never asked the question “why me” because I know whhas if you read the book job, job has literally his whole life taken away from him but yet he still remained faithful to god. And god gave it all back to him for believing and remaining faithful in him. I truly believe I am going to have a powerful testimony about my life one day and that something good will come from all that I have gone through. I want to save lives and bring glory to god by doing his will. Soon I will be going off to the baptist college of Florida and hope to change many people’s lives there with my testimony and bring them closer to god. So whatever trials you come across in your life please I beg you not to loose hope or your faith in god. He will lift you up when your down and even when your up. Remember that satan tempts you and god tests you. please please please don’t ever loose your trust in The Lord. no matter how hard times may get in your life, have faith that god will be there with you through them.

Hi Preston, I am going through a 2 year trial my self, it’s been the worst two years of my life, but as you say we grow and learn so much from Jesus in these times, keep going, keep strong, and never stop praying, and thanking God, he will use you, and you will have a magnificent testimony, god bless,
Be encouraged, though your going through this, he is faithful to complete the work he started in you,

Preston God is on your said.A miracle is coming your way in the next one week in the name of Jesus christ. please let us know if it happens.Am also praying, God to heal me from HIV that I tested positive on 1st Dec.last year. I believe My Lord God is able and nothing is impossible for.I will let you people know when it is done…

To jake: I will start praying for you as you go and continue through your two year trial. I just want you to know that god will change you from these trials the more you become closer to him. I already feel and see the 360 turn around I’ve done. I don’t cuss anymore and haven’t in a longgg time and I struggled with that for years. After being released from the hospital I tried hanging out with my friends but its just so hard when you can see how “lost” they are in their lives and how I wish they were woken by the Holy Spirit. I finally ge to return to school next week and feel called by god to share my testimony in front of everyone on stage at my school! I’m extremely nervous about that still ha but I pray in the lords name that god will heal you in a mighty way and use you as a light as he is doing with me. Amen.

Hi Preston, thanks for your prayers and support, I also pray for you, keep strong, and with the friend situation, I believe it is quite important to try to be around other Christians as much as possible, The Lord has shown me that if we hang around with those who are ‘in the world’ we can quickly stumble. This is not to say we can’t still see them etc, but just to be careful we don’t get sucked into old ways.

It’s a narrow road followed Jesus, and can be lonely, but te rewards are far greater than living in the world,

I’ve been through what I’d call ‘the dark night of the soul’ but god has changed me dramatically in the time of suffering, and likewise he will to you too,

I would recommend listening to ken symington on ‘the dark night of the soul’ as ell as his other mp3 sermons, check it out on his website ‘cri Ireland’ (Christian restoration Ireland)

I also find David wilkersons sermons to be amazing as well, YouTube has a lot of his sermons,

Also the book ‘have you felt like giving up lately’ by wilkerson is brilliant, and a
So his book ‘hungering for more of Jesus’ – that one is a very ‘hard’ read though, in that its very much a book for those who truly want more of Jesus!

Hope some of this helps you, I felt god lad me to tell you about these sermons and books,

I really recommend ken symington’s teaching on his website though, check it out when you have a evening to listen,

Hi Preston, thank you for your prayers, I’m also praying for you.
With regards your friends, I have learnt from The Lord that sometimes we need to step away from our old friends, as hard as it is, because we can easily fall back in to sin, and find it hard to move forward in Jesus if we are still hanging around with them, this doesn’t mean we can’t still be friends with them, but maybe just pray about it, maybe God will lead you away from certain people,

Remember that we overcome satan by the blood of the lamb, and the power of our testimony, so be brave when sharing your testimony, remember there will always be mockers and such, but take no notice, God is with you, and at your young age, it is fantastic that you are wanting to pursue him, stick with it, as I have been through two years of suffering, I know how you feel!

I’d recommend listening to an mp3 sermon called ‘the dark night of the soul’ by ken symington, just google ken symington, or his website cri Ireland (Christian restoration Ireland) he’s a great great speaker, and check out his other mp3 sermons as well,

Also I listen a lot to David wilkerson sermons through YouTube etc, (I know he’s with The Lord now) but he is such a great preacher, and his wisdom is invaluable, maybe read one of his books, I just read ‘have you felt like giving up lately’ and it was brilliant,